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Japanese Free Bobby Fischer, Now an Icelander

TOKYO, Thursday, March 24 - After eight months in a detention cell, Bobby Fischer, the American chess legend, was released Thursday morning and headed for Iceland.

He boarded a plane that left for Copenhagen and planned to travel on to Iceland. On Monday, Iceland's Parliament voted to award citizenship to Mr. Fischer, a tribute to his epic cold war match in 1972 in Reykjavik. The contest ended with Mr. Fischer beating the Soviet player, Boris Spassky. On Wednesday, Icelandic diplomats here presented documents to the Japanese Foreign and Justice Ministries confirming that Mr. Fischer, 62, who was born in Chicago and brought up in Brooklyn, is now a citizen of Iceland.

Mr. Fischer sought his new citizenship as part of his efforts to avoid arrest on United States charges for violating sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition rematch against Mr. Spassky in 1992. Last July, he was jailed by Japan as he tried to fly out of Tokyo with a revoked American passport.

According to Kyodo News, Adam Ereli, the State Department deputy spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday, "There are outstanding charges against Mr. Fischer that we believe should be addressed in the United States, and that is what, frankly, we are looking to happen."

It is unclear how Mr. Fischer might avoid extradition by living in Iceland. Iceland, like Japan, maintains close military ties with the United States and has an extradition treaty with it. But in Iceland, he enjoys a hero status from his 1972 match, which enthralled a nation of chess players.